Senate Approves Continuing Resolution

Forced to vote in the middle of the night due to procedural hurdles, the Senate early on Saturday morning passed a continuing resolution, 62-30, to keep the government funded through late March at an annual rate of $1.047 trillion. President Obama is expected to sign the stopgap bill shortly.

That figure, consistent with the fiscal 2013 cap set by the Budget Control Act, an increase of about $8 billion over fiscal 2012, is $19 billion higher than the fiscal 2013 discretionary cap the House GOP passed in the spring.

House Republicans agreed to the increase in exchange for having the CR fund the government into the next Congress. Conservatives feared a shorter CR would give Democrats leverage to threaten a government shutdown in post-election “fiscal cliff” talks, when much more money is on the line.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., held up passage of the measure until the chamber agreed to vote on his amendment to cut off foreign aid to Egypt, Libya, and Pakistan unless the nations meet certain conditions.